A Chinese man was sentenced to death for murder, rape and burglary and fined 520,000 yuan (about US$67,500), according to a ruling by a court in east China on Friday.

 

Unemployed Dong Wenyu, 29, was convicted of killing six people, injuring two and raping several women during the course of five burglaries between March and May last year in eastern Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, said the intermediate people's court in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province. 

The court said Dong broke into his victims' houses at midnight while the house owners were asleep. He would sometimes creep out of the houses after he pocketed money or valuable items without arousing the sleeping owners. But if the owners were woken up by the noise he would kill them first and then continue searching for money.

 

China's Ministry of Public Security issued an arrest order for Dong on July 19, 2006.

 

Four months later, in the early hours of November 16, 2006, Dong climbed into a second-floor room of a local villager's house in Xiangbi Township of southwestern Sichuan Province. Just before he was about to leave with a cell phone the owner woke up with a start and cried out.

 

Dong jumped from a window in panic and broke his right leg. Local police identified Dong and arrested him.

 

Dong was also found to have broken into houses in Jinhua City of Zhejiang Province and Zixi of Jiangxi Province and stolen money and other items valued at 9,120 yuan (about US$1180) in November 2004 and April 2006.

 

The court said Dong's crime had exerted "an extremely vile and baneful influence on society."

 

Dong left home at the age of 11 and had never settled down. He had previous convictions of willful and malicious injury and theft and had served previous jail terms of 18 months and two and a half years.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)